Eye On The Exec

You are allowed to attend the VUWSA executive meetings. Did you know that? They take place every other Thursday at 6 p.m. in the VUWSA boardroom. You have the honour of sitting amongst your student reps for about an hour as they move through their minutes in a semi-casual fashion, starting with the karakia and (traditionally) ending with “chat in the hat”.

I’ll be honest—Salient missed last week’s VUWSA meeting. In part, because the meeting was moved to a Thursday (from a Wednesday) and in part because we were shoddy with communication.

Nonetheless, I had the opportunity to sit down with VUWSA CEO, Matt Tucker, to discuss what’s been going down at VUWSA.

Buckle up for some second-hand goss.

O-Week Reckoning

Firstly, Tam led a discussion on the review of O-Week 2019. A few questions raised were:

Movie night: Should it really be outdoors, with the unpredictability of the Welly wind?

Safe rooms: Are they safe enough? For example, did the safe room volunteers feel safe? These are important questions moving forward.

Comedy night: Should we cut it? Apparently, Vic doesn’t have many high-capacity venues, and Wellington venue rates are through the roof. 2019 freshers, you may have experienced the last of the O-Week comedy nights. Congrats.

I inquired whether VUWSA would send out an O-Week survey, to which Matt replied, “We’re going to do a survey using ticketing info.” We’ll see about that.

Relay for Life

Matt couldn’t offer much information on the VUWSA Relay for Life since he’s “not into running”, but from what I can gather, yes, VUWSA does have a Relay for Life team; and yes, that’s pretty fucking wholesome. Team name TBA.

Mental Health Wānanga

A few Fridays ago, VUWSA held a Mental Health Wānanga for student and club leaders. Unfortunately, the wānanga was affected by the Christchurch mosque attacks, but they “still had some really good conversations.”

Ousting Chat in the Hat

“Chat in the Hat” was a revered tradition in previous exec meetings. Talking points were dropped into a hat and picked at random (think, “can we have some more teaspoons” and “Black Forest chocolate at exec meetings”). Tam moved to remove the custom, citing that “Nobody wants to do it at the end of an executive meeting.” Fair enough.

Editor's Pick

J Avia: Where are you from? My list was always ready: England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, puppy dogs’ tails, a little Spanish, maybe German, and—almost as an afterthought—half Samoan. An unwanted fraction. But you don’t seem like a Samoan. I thought you were [inser

The student magazine of Victoria University of Wellington. Salient is available on campus free each Monday during term. Funded in part by Victoria University of Wellington students, through the Student Services Levy.